Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the 2026 parliamentary election will be the last vote before Hungary could face a direct threat of war. Speaking at an anti-war rally organized by the Digital Civic Circles in Kecskemét, he argued that the composition of the next government will determine whether Hungary can remain outside a conflict approaching Europe. He said a Brussels-friendly cabinet would drag the country into war, while a national government could create a chance to stay peacefully out of it.
According to the prime minister, the war in Ukraine is not just geographically close, but politically also, and the EU leadership has already decided that by 2030 it must be prepared for a confrontation with Russia. Orbán claimed that Brussels is shifting towards a war economy, redirecting automotive capacities into weapons and armour production. He also referred to a social-science model describing four stages of wartime expansion, saying Europe is now in the third phase.
Orbán stressed that Hungary has only limited ability to keep Europe away from war: ‘Here we can mostly pray.’ If the continent nevertheless enters the conflict, Hungary must stay out at all costs, he said, citing the unsuccessful attempts to remain neutral in the First and Second World Wars. In his view, this requires strength in economic, political and sovereignty terms.
The prime minister also said that Hungary must gather strength not only to stay out of the war, but also for what comes afterwards. He pointed out that ‘if you are one or two steps ahead of the others, then you will be successful.’ Large countries do not need to be particularly clever, he argued, but Hungary must be. A strong, sizable country can still assert its interests even if it realizes something later, but a country of Hungary’s size must rely on its wits, he opined.
‘Hungary is already preparing for the economic opportunities of the post-war world’
The prime minister highlighted that the United States now has a president ‘who hates war from the heart’, and that this should be used as an opportunity. He added that Hungary is already preparing for the economic opportunities of the post-war world, discussing them with both American and Russian partners. He announced that in early December he will travel to Moscow at the head of a business delegation.
Orbán referred to Hungary’s wartime losses, which he said still deeply shape Hungarian society’s anti-war instincts. He believes a different logic prevails in Western Europe, where war is seen by some as an economic opportunity. He criticized Brussels’ sanctions policy, which, in his opinion, ignores Hungary’s interests. As an example, he noted that US President Trump previously granted exemptions from energy sanctions, while the EU did not.
Related articles:
